Apparatus for dispersing liquids and mixtures



June 11, 1935. E. F. VAN SUCHTELEN 2,004,840

APPARATUS FOR DISPERSING LIQUIDS AND MIXTURES Filed Oct. 11, 1952 \QUEIUJi Patented June 11, 1935 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE armmrusroa 3:1 :11 mqums an) I Eduard Ferdinand van Suchtelen, Amsterdam,

Netherlands Application October 11, 1932; Serial No. 637,325 In the Netherlands October 12, 1931 8 Claims. (01. 159-0 10 be treated (e. g. milk, blood, eggs, etc.) is introduced through a supply tube into an open vessel having. an open top and narrow lateral apertures, said vessel being rotated extremely quickly (e. g. with 10.000 revolutions per minute). Owing to this high velocity and the resulting centrifugal force the liquid as such is dispersed into the evaporation and reaction chamber.

Besides for spraying soap powder e. g. a system is known, in which the liquid matter is sprayed freely under high pressure through a narrow nozzle into a. high tower or reaction chamber in order that the matter will crystallize out and dry during its fall. I

Often the nozzles in this case are provided in such a way that e. g. in a lateral sense still a strong air current blows against the matter to be dispersed which results in a finely dispersed condition of same.

The apparatus to be described diifers in many respects from the known systems and oifers various advantages with regard to same.

According to the invention, especially when drying and crystallizing out various liquids and matters on a large scale, a remarkable effect may be obtained by submitting the material to be atomized to an intimate treatment with air or another gas or vapor under pressure in certain successive manners before the-dispersion proper in the reaction chamber; by said treatment an extremely fine dispersion of the matter is obtained.

To this end the matter to be dispersed is first intimately mixed in an injector or in another way with an excess of air or another gas or vapor and then beaten to froth under pressure against the bottom of an atomizer. In this way an extremely fine dispersion of the liquid or mat:- ter is obtained in the gaseous medium, as a kind 50 of finely dispersed froth with a large air surface the mixture in this third stage of treatment is a forced to leave the atomizer through narrow lateral apertures or nozzles and this froth is then' blown or thrown into the vaporization or reaction space in the form of an extremely fine mist by the air or gas pressure prevailing in the atomizer.

By making the atomizer'rotatable in such a way that it can rotate out of itself owing to the pressure of the elected froth matter with the 5 excess of air or gas, the results obtained become still more remarkable. Owing to the rotation of the atomizer there will be a uniform distribution of the mist in the reaction chamber and the fine dispersion of the matter is promoted still 10 more. r

With reference to the accompanying drawing the invention may be elucidated by the following example.

Through an injector or. ejector I, Fig. 1, air or 15 a certain gas is blown in at 2 undermore or less high pressure, through the other opening 3 the liquid or matter to be treated being either sucked by the action of the injector or being supplied to the injector under some pressure (e. g. by the '20 height of fall, a small pump, or in some other way). Also the matter to be treated may be introduced at 2 and the air or gas at 3. The proportion of the supplied quantity of air or gas with respect to the quantity .of liquid or matter to be 25 treated in general is large. To the fixed injector or ejector a hollow atomizer 4 isconnected in a rotatable way said atomizer forming as gastight as possible a unity with the injector or ejector. This rotatable atomizer 4 has lateral apertures or tubes 5 with narrow nozzles, through which the mixture of air or gas with the liquid or matter to-be treated is blown and has to find an escape. The blowing direction of the mixture crosses the axis of the rotatable atomizer, so that the latter owing to the pressure of the discharging matter acts as the well-knownsegners waterwheel (garden-sprinkler) and starts rotating (Fig. 2 is a crosssection of the atomizer 4 of Fig. 1). Here it is mainly the air or gas pressure which brings the atomizer into a rotating motion. By this process various advantages are obtained.

In the apparatus itself already the matter to be treated,'owing to the excess of compressed air orv gas introduced into the injector or other mixing 5 device, is intimately mixed with the air or the gas and beaten to froth against the bottom of the rotating atomizer. Finally the mixture has to leave the lateral apertures of the rotatable atomizer as afinely dispersed froth with an extremely large air surface; this froth is then flung into the evaporation 'or reaction chamber 6 in the form of an extremely fine mist. Owing to the pressure in the atomizer the latter then will turn more or less quickly as a Segner's waterwheel resulting in an chamber 6. Moreover the dispersion is furthered by this rotation. According to the novel process with the matter already pretreated in the apparatus a quicker drying, evaporation, crystallization or reaction may result than when the liquid or matter to be treated is dispersed as such in the reaction chamber. 1

With'respect to the well-known systems with quickly rotating atomizers the novel process further has the advantage that the often expensive mechanical drive of same by means of a steam turbine or electromotor is avoided. Owing to the fact that the dispersion is carried out in various stages, the atomizer in general needs only rotate at a moderate velocity in order to yield a remarkable effect. Owing to this the power. consumption may be considerably less than e. g. with the mechanical drive of an open atomizer which has to rotate extremely rapidly in order to obtain a favourable action.

When drying, concentrating and crystallizing out ingeneral compressed air is to be used to which end mostly a relatively small, compressor with atmospheric pressure suiflces. With such a compressor it appeared to be possible to atomize e. g. 15002000 kilogramsoap powder per hour with great fineness and a low specific gravity.

In general, as usual in technics, air, either heated or not, will have to be supplied to the reaction and evaporation chamber 6 at 8 for further drying, from below evaporating and crystallizing out the atomized matter.

Under certain circumstances it may be desirable to have the pre-dispersion in the apparatus itself done not with air but with other gases or vapours. In special cases it may be advantageous to heat or cool the compressed air or gas beforehand.

At the same time it is possible to allow a certain dispersed matter to react in the reaction chamber 6 chemically with a certain gas supplied, in order to obtain a desired conversion. In general in this case one will allow also the pre-dispersion to take place in the apparatus itself with the same gas.

Here. it may be advantageous to lead back the gasdischarging at 1 in a closed system to 2 and B.

In the drawing the apparatus is shown with the injector or the primary mixing device at the top and the atomizer proper below. The apparatus, however, may also have another position and e. g. be entirely reversed, the bottom of the atomizer then being at the top. Also the injector may be arranged outside of the reaction chamber and e.- g. connected to the atomizer by a straight or bent pipe line. Instead of an injector an arbi trary other mixingdevice may be employed, in which the liquid or matter tobe'treated is mixed intimately with air, gas or vapour. I

Furthermore in special cases it may be already possible to obtain satisfactory results with the pre-dispe'rsion without rotation of the atomizer. By providing an adequate amount of nozzles at this atomizer a satisfactorydistribution of the pretreated atomizer matter may -be obtained in the reaction chamber. In this'case the nozzles or apertures at the non-rotating atomizer'need not be providedin such a waythat the direction of thediscliarging atomized mixture crossed the axis of the atomizer." I

" Iclai'm:

" 1. Apparatus for dispersing or spraying liquids anfd'the like} comprising an injector ineans for passing a -fluid f mass at highpressure' into said injector, means' 'for "forcing a fluid masstO be,

2. Apparatus for dispersing or spraying liquids ,and the like, comprising an injector, means for passing a gas at high pressure into said injector,

means for forcing the material to be mixed with said gasinto said injector and a reaction-type atomizer comprising arotatably mounted sprayhead with jets near the periphery thereof, the said spray-head communicating with said injector and passing the atomized mixture outwardly in a circular path, due to the reaction of the mixture of the material to be, treated and the gas on the atomizer.

' 3. Apparatus for dispersing or spraying liquids and the like, comprising an injector, means for passing material to be treated intov said injector at high pressure, means for forcing a gas to be mixed with the material undergoing treatment into said injector, and a reaction-type atomizer comprising a rotatably mounted spray-head with jets near the periphery thereof, the said sprayhead communicating with said injector and rotatably mounted for passing the atomized mixture outwardly in a circular path, due to the reaction of the mixture of the material to be treated and the gas on the atomizer.

4. Apparatus for dispersing or spraying liquids and the like, comprising aninjector, means for passing a fluid mass at high pressure into said injector, means for forcing under high pressure a fluid mass to be mixed with the said first-mentioned mass into said injector, and a reactiontype atomizer having narrow lateral openings and communicating with saidinjector-and rotatably mounted for passing the atomized fluid outwardly in a circular path due to the reaction of the mixed fluids on the atomizer.

5. Apparatus for dispersing or spraying liquids and the like, comprising an injector, means for passing a fluid mass at high pressure into said injector, means for forcing under high pressure a fluid mass to be mixed with the said first-mentioned means into said injector, and a reactiontype atomizer comprising a rotatably mounted spray-head with jets near the periphery thereof, the said spray-head communicating with said injector and rotatably mounted for passing the atomized fluid outwardly in a circular path, due to the reaction of the mixed fluids on the atomizer, the first-mentioned means being disposed above said injector, and the atomizer being disposed below said injector so that gravity facilitates the passage of fluids through the apparatus.

6. Apparatus for dispersing or spraying liquids, and the like, comprising an injector, means for passing a fluid mass at high pressure into said injector; means for forcing under high pressure a fluid mass to be mixed with the said first-mentioned mass into said injector: a reaction-type atomizer comprising a rotatably mounted sprayhead with jets near the'periphery thereof, the said spray-head communicating with said injector and passing the atomized fluid outwardly in acircular path, due to the reaction of the mixed fluids on the atomizer, and a'r'eaction chamber into which the atomized mixture is discharged from the 8. Apparatus for atomising fluidsand the like,

fluid to the reaction chamber for further acting upon the atomized mixture.

7. Apparatus for dispersing or spraying liquids and the like, comprising an injector, means for passing a fluid mass at high pressure into said in- Jector, means for forcing a fluid mass to be mixed with the said first-mentioned mass into said injector, under the action of the vacuum created by the passage of the fluid mass through the firstmentioned means, a reaction-type atomizer comprising a rotatably mounted spray-head with jets near the periphery thereof, the said spray-head communicating with said injector and passing the atomized fluid outwardly in a circular path, due to the reaction of the mixed fluids on the atomizer, a reaction chamber into which the atomized mixture is discharged from the atomizer, and means for supplying an additional fluid to the reaction chamber for further acting upon the atomized mixture, said last-mentioned means being disposed at the bottom of the reaction chamber'and directing the additional fluid upwardly through the reaction chamber.

comprising a first part consisting of a device in which the material to be atomized is intimately admixedwithafluid,andasecondpartconsisting of an atomizing receptacle in which the admixture produced in the first part is projected under pressure against the bottom and thereby beaten to foam, said 'atomizing receptacle having narrow lateral openings through which the foam can pass under the effect of the pressure, said first part including an admission pipe for the mixture of fluid and the material to be atomized, in which the atomizing receptacle is connected rotatably and gas tight with the admission pipe, while the said discharge openings of the atomizing receptacle are so disposed that the direction in which the preliminarily treated mixture in the atomizing receptacle is blown or forced out, is angularly disposed with respect to the axis of the said atomizing receptacle.

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